Jonah

ned the shutters. At intervals trams and buses, choked with passengers from the city, laboured heavily past. Groups of men still loitered

f the relentless toil, the inexorable need for bread, that dragge

e popular brands of whisky. And it stood alone in the darkening street, piercing the night with an unwinking stare like an evil spirit, offering its warm, comfortable bars to the passer-b

He saw nothing but some groups of young men leaning against the veranda-posts at the opposite corner. They smoked and spat, tranquilly discussing the horses and betting for

idy, now we sh

onah givin'

erform, if 'e a

stinct of a general, and then left in hurried search of Jonah. And they watched the swinging doors of the hotel with cruel eyes, their n

nterest; the matter seemed foreign and remote. The velvety touch of his son's frail body still thrilled his nerves; its sweet, deli

ter turn dawg on m

l-I dunno 'ow I feel. The blasted kid knoc

nd groceries clutched in her powerful arms. His eyes softened with tenderness. He felt a sudden kinship for this huge, ungainly woman. He wanted to run and meet her

d Chook at last. "Wot

with a sombre look in his eyes.

cried grimly; "

persed slowly, talking immoderately, parting with the regret of lovers from the warm bar with its cheerful light and pleasant clink of glasses. The doors were closed, but the bar was still noisy, and the laggards slipped out cautiously by the si

ancy meetin' yo

slightly, stare

you," he

job in Kent Street? Dunno Joe Parsons, as danc

trying to remember, but hi

"come an' 'ave a drink."

tionately by the arm, "no more fer me! I

another," said th

tly away from the ho

ow'll yer ole woman r

is eyes flamed with foolish, drunken anger. "I earn the money, don' I, an' I spend

closed qu

blokes?" he a

good men an' true,"

e as it swept into the terminus. An engine screamed hoarsely as it swept past with a rattle of jolting metal and the hum of swiftly revolvi

y Collins, with a sneer. "Biff him on th

Jonah, and he steppe

copper boiler?" he

the cops on a bloke, an' got 'im th

ed by the appearance of this misshapen devil with the glitteri

me Gawd, I niver put nobody

to his cut lip, and looked at the blood in amazement. The shock cleared his brain, and he remembered with terror the

, strident voice. "The swine lives abo

. Then, with the instinct of the hunted, he turned for home and ran. The Push gave chase, with C

he gave a hoarse scream-the do

fened by years of toil; the larrikins, light on their feet as hares, kept the pace with a

. The bricklayer went sprawling, and in an instant the Push closed in on the fallen man as footballers fo

h scattered, disappearing by ma

, noticing the huddled mass on the road, crossed the street cautiously and stared. Then a cr

st out of windows, doors were opened, and a stream of men and women, we

arse jest passed round when a tall, bony woman came up, a man's overcoat, thrown over her shoulders, barely coverin

ly a dru

as knocked dow

toushed 'im, an

e; it was smeared with blood. Then the crowd

'ere d'yer live? '

m vigorously, impatient at his sil

s the p

y're wanted, y

go 'ome an' sleep it

r take care of 'imself, like every

these brutes are allo

ell 'oo they are, but they'r

her neck over the shoulders of the men to see better

she screamed. "Bill, Bill,

his face with the sleeve of her nightdress. A dark red stain spread over the coarse, common calico. And she kissed passionately the bleeding lips, heedless of the sour smell of al

ins, and fell, grey and scanty, over her neck; her bony shou

you'll ketch cold," said a ma

ries made by men whose bodies had been beaten to a jelly. One, carried away by enthusiasm, declared that it did a man good to be shattered like glass, for the doctors, with satanic cunning seized the opportunity to knead the br

nted with this incident that broke the monotony of the night's dreary round. The crowd breathed freely, feeling th

ght? No chance," was

heard rattling along the next str

him to his own house, with the distrust of the ignorant for the hospitals, where the doctors amuse themselves by cutting and carving the b

ood 'ere," he said, kindly. "Don't you worry; I've seen

ghbours led her away, her thin

with relish the details of the outrage, searching their memories for